Privacy Policy
How we collect, use and protect your personal data. Last updated: 30 September 2026.
Quick summary
- We only collect what we need to book and carry out your alteration or repair — your name, phone number, and (if you choose) email, service details and photos of your garment.
- Your phone number is the only required field; everything else on the booking form is optional.
- We currently take payment by bank transfer — you pay us directly through your own bank, and we never see or store your bank login details. When we add card payments, they will go through a secure, PCI‑compliant payment provider that keeps your full card details away from our systems entirely.
- We only ever post a photo of your garment (or of you) on our Google Business Profile, website, Facebook, Instagram or other social media if you've separately given us permission to — and you can ask us to take it down at any time.
- We don't sell your data, and we don't use advertising or tracking cookies.
- We use Google Sheets to receive and store booking/contact form submissions, and Netlify to host this website.
- You can ask us to access, correct or delete your data at any time — see Your Rights below.
1. Who we are
This website, theseamboutique.com, is operated by The Seam Boutique ("we", "us", "our"), a clothing alterations and repairs business based at:
23 Hyde Heath Court
Crawley, West Sussex
RH10 3UQ, United Kingdom
For the purposes of UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), The Seam Boutique is the data controller responsible for your personal data. You can contact us about any privacy matter at:
2. The personal data we collect
2.1 Information you give us directly
We collect personal data when you use our booking form or contact form. Depending on which fields you fill in, this may include:
- Contact details — your name, phone number and email address
- Booking details — the service you're interested in, your preferred date and time, and a description of the work needed
- Photos of your garment — if you choose to upload images so we can assess the work, or photos we take in our studio of the finished result. We only use these for marketing/portfolio purposes with your separate permission — see Section 4.
- How you heard about us — an optional field on the booking form
- Message content — anything you write to us via the contact form
Your phone number is the only field we require in order to confirm a booking. Everything else is optional and only used if you choose to provide it.
2.2 Information we collect automatically
Like most websites, our hosting provider (Netlify) automatically logs standard technical information when you visit — such as your IP address, browser type, device type and the pages you view — for security, performance and fraud-prevention purposes. This data is not used to personally identify you for marketing.
3. How we use your data, and our legal basis
We only use your personal data for the reasons below, each with a lawful basis under UK GDPR:
| What we use it for | Data involved | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Responding to your booking or enquiry, arranging fittings and drop‑off/collection | Name, phone, email, service, date/time, garment details, photos | Performance of a contract (or steps taken at your request before one) |
| Carrying out alteration/repair work and confirming pricing | Garment details, photos, service selected | Performance of a contract |
| Taking payment and keeping financial records | Name, contact details, transaction amount and date | Performance of a contract; legal obligation (tax/accounting records) |
| Answering general enquiries sent through the contact form | Name, contact details, message | Legitimate interests (running our business and customer service) |
| Keeping our website secure and working properly | IP address, device/browser data (via hosting logs) | Legitimate interests (site security and reliability) |
| Showcasing finished alterations on our Google Business Profile, website and social media | Photos of your garment, and any photos that include you | Consent — separate, opt‑in, and only ever with your specific agreement |
4. Photos of your work — marketing & portfolio use
We're proud of the alterations we complete, and — with your permission — we like to share photos of finished garments, and sometimes photos that include you, on our Google Business Profile, this website, Facebook, Instagram and other social media, to showcase our work to future customers.
This is always optional and separate from booking our services. We will only use a photo of your garment or of you for marketing purposes if you've specifically agreed to it — for example, by giving verbal or written consent when you collect your finished item, or by ticking an opt‑in box where one is offered. Declining makes no difference to the service you receive from us, and we will never assume consent just because you uploaded a photo to the booking form — that photo is used only to assess the work unless you separately agree to more.
You can withdraw this consent at any time and ask us to remove a photo — just email theseamboutique1@gmail.com. We'll take it down from channels we control (our website, Google Business Profile, Facebook and Instagram pages) as soon as reasonably possible. Please note that if content has already been shared, saved or cached by someone outside our control, we can't guarantee every copy is removed.
5. Payments
Bank transfer (current method). We currently take payment by direct bank transfer. We will share our business bank account details with you so you can pay us directly through your own online or mobile banking. Your bank handles the transfer — we do not receive, see or store your online banking login details, card numbers, or full bank account credentials at any point.
Card payments (coming soon). We plan to also offer payment by card. When this launches, card payments will be processed by a reputable, PCI‑DSS‑compliant third‑party payment provider. That provider — not The Seam Boutique — will handle and store your full card details securely; we will only ever see limited information needed to confirm your payment was successful (such as the amount paid and a transaction reference). We will update this policy to name the provider once card payments are live.
6. Who we share your data with
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal data. We share it only with the following:
- Google (Google Sheets / Apps Script) — booking and contact form submissions are sent securely to a private Google Sheet that we use to manage enquiries and appointments.
- Netlify — our website hosting provider, which stores and serves this site and its technical access logs.
- Google Fonts & Font Awesome (cdnjs/Cloudflare) — used to load the fonts and icons on this site; your browser contacts these services directly to fetch those files, which may log your IP address as a normal part of serving web content.
- Google Business Profile, Facebook, Instagram & other social media — only where you've given us specific consent to showcase a photo of your finished garment, or of you, as described in Section 4.
- A future card payment provider — once card payments launch (see Section 5).
The first three are processors acting strictly on our instructions. We may also disclose personal data if required to do so by law, or to protect our rights, property or safety, or that of our customers.
7. International data transfers
Some of the providers listed above (particularly Google) may process data on servers located outside the UK. Where this happens, we rely on legally approved safeguards — such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses — which these providers commit to as part of their standard terms, to ensure your data continues to receive a comparable level of protection.
8. How long we keep your data
| Type of data | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Enquiries or bookings that don't proceed to an appointment | Up to 12 months, then deleted |
| Customer & appointment records (name, contact details, service history) | For as long as you remain a customer, plus 2 years afterwards, in case you return or have an after‑care query |
| Photos uploaded or taken for assessing/quoting a job (not used for marketing) | Deleted once the related job is complete, or after 90 days if no booking proceeds |
| Photos you've consented to us using for marketing/portfolio purposes (Section 4) | Kept until you withdraw consent and ask us to remove them, or until no longer relevant to showcase our work |
| Payment / financial transaction records | 6 years from the end of the relevant tax year, as required by UK tax law |
9. Cookies & similar technologies
We do not use analytics, advertising or tracking cookies. The only browser storage we use is a small, temporary flag saved in your browser's session storage to remember that you've closed a promotional pop‑up during your visit. It contains no personal data, is cleared automatically when you close your browser tab, and is strictly necessary for the site to behave as expected — so it does not require your consent under UK cookie rules (PECR).
10. How we protect your data
This site is served entirely over encrypted HTTPS. Access to the Google Sheet and inbox where enquiries are stored is restricted to authorised members of The Seam Boutique only, and we do not store full payment card or banking credentials on any system we control. While no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, we take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your information against unauthorised access, loss or misuse.
11. Your rights under UK GDPR
You have the right to:
- Access — ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
- Erasure — ask us to delete your data, where there's no legal reason for us to keep it
- Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances
- Portability — ask for your data in a portable format, where technically feasible
- Object — object to us processing your data based on legitimate interests
- Withdraw consent — where we rely on consent, such as using a photo of your garment or of you for marketing (Section 4), you can withdraw it at any time and ask us to take the photo down
To exercise any of these rights, email us at theseamboutique1@gmail.com. We'll respond within one month. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you also have the right to complain to the UK's data protection regulator:
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
ico.org.uk · 0303 123 1113
12. Children's privacy
Our services are intended for adults arranging their own or a family member's clothing alterations. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children, and our booking and contact forms are not designed for use by children.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time — for example, when we introduce card payments or a new feature. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will always reflect the latest version. We encourage you to review it occasionally.
14. Contact us
If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, please get in touch:
- theseamboutique1@gmail.com
- 07715 578 899
- 23 Hyde Heath Court, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 3UQ